Lead Consultant - Susanne Currid
Image: Toby Shaw
Susanne Currid is a strategic business consultant, brand communications expert and trusted advisor to creative founders, independents and growing businesses. She brings over 25 years of hard-won commercial experience — working across hospitality, food and drink, design, lifestyle and creative services — together with a culturally sensitive way of thinking deepened through a recent distinction-grade Master’s from the University of Sussex.
That combination is the foundation of The Loop: a consultancy built on the conviction that commercial rigour and cultural intelligence aren't in tension. In the best businesses, they're the same thing.
Career & Experience
Before founding The Loop in 2011, Susanne spent 10 years in marketing — as an Account and Business Development Manager for leading creative and marketing agencies, and as Global Head of Online Marketing for a UK software business recognised as a global award-winner. That career gave her expert-level experience across digital strategy, brand development, sales and customer experience — working with both international household brands and fast-growth independents.
Over the course of her career, she has delivered ground-breaking digital innovation for well-known brands including Channel 4, Johnson & Johnson, Sony Entertainment, Deutsche Bank, Cushman & Wakefield, Dorling Kindersley and Simply Red, alongside hundreds of ambitious independent businesses.
Since founding The Loop, Susanne has focused her consultancy practice on the creative, hospitality and lifestyle sectors — working with innovative and award-winning businesses including Hawksmoor Steakhouse & Cocktails, Byron Hamburgers, Nirvana Brewery, Werewolf Beer Co., Darwin & Wallace, East Coast Concepts, Social Pantry, Kingston Lafferty Design, Squerryes and many more. She has supported clients from fledgling concept through to growth, providing strategic advisory, brand development, sales and marketing strategy, sales & marketing capacity planning and hands-on fundraising support.
In 2013, she published Build Your Tribe — a marketing manifesto for restaurants, bars and cafes that ranked as the number one title for bar and restaurant marketing on Amazon UK for five consecutive years, and was placed on the essential reading list for South Bank University's hospitality management degree.
Approach and Method
Susanne consults through advisory relationships, short problem‑solving sessions and facilitated thinking spaces for founders who want clarity, not noise. Her consulting bridges the gap between brand plans and business realities, especially in key areas such as digital change, brand development, value pricing, business culture, capacity building, R&D and funding.
Her consultancy approach is rooted in a genuine respect for the human side of business. She has long believed — and her experience consistently confirms — that strategy only works when it accounts for the culture, values and behavioural dynamics of the people who have to live it. Plans don't fail for lack of strategy. They fail when the human reality of a business and its communications hasn't been properly accounted for.
Four values guide her practice: honesty, collaboration, curiosity, creativity, and inclusion. From the start of every engagement, honesty is what opens up the conversation towards real shifts. She works best in genuine partnership with talented, passionate people — exploring diverse views, asking what's missing, and finding what can be created by connecting things that haven't yet been connected. She believes in creativity not just as a professional tool but as the thing that makes difficult situations navigable and life genuinely worthwhile. A passionate advocate for equal opportunity in business, Susanne supports improved inclusion for founders and owners who bring a different and valuable perspective to the world.
Credentials at a Glance
25+ years of business consultancy and commercial marketing experience
Digital Pioneer - delivering ground-breaking innovation for international media, tech, consumer and entertainment brands
Founder, The Loop Digital Communications Ltd (est. 2011)
Author, Build Your Tribe (2013) — #1 Amazon UK, hospitality marketing, five years
Fundraising - recent business funding plans and bid support raising £3M+
Former UK Government SME Advisor — Growth Accelerator and Growth Voucher schemes
Guest expert, BBC's The Apprentice
Regular conference speaker and trade press contributor throughout career
Former lecturer, Marketing & Customer Experience, The Marketers Forum (CIM curriculum)
*****
Based in Hastings and working with clients across London and the South East — in person and online — Susanne helps founders, creatives and independent businesses find their voice, their strategy, and their next step.
What People Say About Susanne
“As a start-up its invaluable having people with good industry knowledge, who also understand small businesses. Susanne was definitely one of those people and would thoroughly recommend.”
— Becky Taylor-Kean, Founder, Nirvana Brewery
‘35 Women under 35’ winner, Management Today, 2022
“The guidance provided by The Loop has been invaluable to Werewolf Beer, from concept, start-up, to growth. Susanne gets the best out of us not only as an enthusiastic supporter but also as a pragmatic advisor, willing to speak to the reality of the current business climate as well as my professional and personal blindspots. Without her expert guidance we would not be on the upward trajectory we are now.”
— Rich White, Founder, Werewolf Beer Co.
"I cannot express how useful it is and how you have hugely simplified the task in hand. The sessions we have had were simply fantastic, totally realigned us, focused our efforts and made the challenges seem manageable. All your advice is totally invaluable. Thank you.”
— Alex Head, CEO, Social Pantry
“If you’re looking for a marketing strategist who combines commercial savvy, creative clarity and an authentically collaborative mindset, Susanne Currid is the person you want on your side.”
— Shaun Adams, Founder, Brand Bamboo
“Thank you for an amazing session yesterday. I really appreciated all the insights and direction …. it felt like such a significant breakthrough.”
— Founder, Lifestyle Startup
“Working with Susanne has been nothing short of a pleasure, her understanding of people, culture, and arts engagement has proven a real asset to Picnic’s photography community.”
— Joe Charrington, Director, Picnic CIC